I may be an expatriate St. Louisan, but I'm a Cardinal Fan Forever. Mostly, I write haiku recaps of every game. Occasionally, I write longer stuff with pictures.

Opening Day Live Blog

Pre-game

I wish we could have seen all the pre-game festivities, but how exciting to see the world champs flag being raised and all the Cardinal greats in attendance! Yay, it’s finally time for games that count.

Top of the 1st

Carp looks sharp in a 1-2-3 inning. Kennedy booted the grounder but recovered to barely get Beltran at first.

Bottom of the 1st

Eckstein starts things off with a single, but Preston Wilson hits
into a double play. Pujols flies out. As expected, Glavine will be
tough.

Top of the 2nd

Moises Alou – first pitch, first single, first time batting as a Met. Shawn Green singles with a shot just over Eckstein’s head. Alou hustles to third. Valentin lines out, right at Pujols. Phew. No damage.

Bottom of the 2nd

Edmonds strikes out, but I don’t care. I’m just so happy to see him in the starting lineup.

Top of the 3rd

Chris from The Ultimate Baseball Collector blog stopped by my chat room to say hi. If you’re reading this, feel free to IM me using the meebo chatroom on the sidebar. Beltran just missed a homer – man, that dude is scarier to Cardinals fans than The Hills Have Eyes 2. Beltran hit by a pitch. Delgado hits a long fly ball to left. Taguchi
had a shot to grab it, but it sailed over his head and hit the fence.
Lo Duca and Beltran score. Mets 2, Cards 0.

Bottom of the 3rd

A triple for Kennedy – great hustle. That’s a good way to start a Cardinal career – the fans definitely appreciated it. Squeeze attempt but Carp’s bunt stays right in front of home plate, and Kennedy gets caught in a run-down. Ugly.

Long fly ball from Rolen, but not long enough. Opening Day isn’t going our way so far.

Top of the 5th

When asked what’s wrong with Carp, Tony just gives credit to the Mets lineup. It’s true – they do have fearsome bats. David Wright keeps the momentum going with a single. Yay, an inning without any Mets scoring.

Bottom of the 5th

Molina singles. Edmonds hits into a double play. Taguchi grounds out to Glavine, who seemingly can do no wrong tonight.

Top of the 6th

Reyes would have flied out, but Taguchi drops the ball. Oy. With either Taguchi or Duncan in left field, I’m not feeling confident. Double play ends the inning.

Bottom of the 6th

Eckstein doubles, Shumaker scores. Whew, at least it’s no longer a shutout. Wilson singles, and Eckstein tries to score but is tagged out. Good throw by Beltran and he wasn’t that deep, so I don’t think Oquendo should have sent Eckstein home. Wilson advances to 2nd on the throw home. Rolen hit by a pitch, and bases are loaded for Yadi, but his bloop is caught by Reyes. Mets 5, Cards 1.

Thompson gets into some trouble, then gets a double play to get out of it. One more chance for the Cards.

Bottom of the 9th

Molina singles. That’s his second hit of the night. I feel like he’s going to be hitting much better this season. Spiezio pinch hits for Edmonds, but pops up. Taguchi singles. Bennett pops out. 2 down. Miles flies out to end the game.

Final score is Mets 6, Cards 1. Well, not the opening night we Cardinals fans had hoped for, but I’m still excited that baseball is back!

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